Engine quits

Three weeks ago our 2006 Honda Civic simiply quit running after 41,000 miles of flawless performance. It was towed to a Honda dealership and checked the next morning when it was running great and the computer showed no problems. The service department suggested that there may have been water in the gasoline. The car ran flawlessly for two weeks and 400 miles when the exact same thing happened. It was towed to another dealership where it was not checked until the next morning when the computer again showed no problem and it was running fine. They also have no idea of what the problem is. Has anyone else had a similar problem and did you find a solution?

The next time it happens call ahead and tell the shop manager that the problem disappears after the car has sat and ask them to try to diagnose it immediately upon its arrival at the dealership.

There are a myriad of possibilities.

When it quits, what attempts are you making to restart it? Since there are no computer codes and it stops quickly it might be a fault in the ignition switch itself. These switches do go bad, and if a “loaded” key ring is used the switch can be damaged by the weight of the keys and other stuff on the key ring.

Another issue is the “security” chips in the keys can be misread. So, try a different key, try moving the key around in the ignition switch, etc. If any of these items work it can indicate you need to change out the ignition switch.

Tell us the details of the quitting. Did it buck and jerk a couple of times, and then stalled? Or, did it quit cleanly? Did you try to restart immediately, or not?

Engine runs rough for about 5 seconds and then quits. It will restart, but immediately runs rough and stalls again.